Influences of housing settings and designs in fulfilling the Malay residents' social cultures

Abstract

This study discusses on the influence of settlement settings and an ideal housing design that can shape a good society and excel in behaviour, the value of life and lifestyle daily. Living environment affects its inhabitants, including the opportunity for the Malay community to practice their norm and values based on Islamic teachings. There are two housing categories in Malaysia, namely as an unplanned settlement (kampongs) and planned settlement (urban housing). Nowadays, majority of the Urban-Malay community are living in modern housing estates in urban areas where the living sphere is different from a traditional settlement such as kampong in rural area. The living environment setting such as the kampongs encourage Malay residents to practice their social cultures. The Malay socio-cultural aspect is established slowly and evolves through time based on values required by religion and inherited from one generation to another. Malays have to comply with all the teachings and practice the values required by Islam. This paper suggests that, to meet such Malay residents' need, a certain physical design attributes from the kampongs should be applied in the modern housing environment at two different levels, called as the micro (house unit) and macro (settlement or neighbourhood) level. Based on the various literature sources, the requirement of optimum living space, the social activities, the family relationship, the neighbourhood concepts and preservation of the privacy element within Malay settlement have been discussed. As a comparison, the existing of linked housing setting has been reviewed in order to compare between the modern and traditional living environments. This paper proposed that the Muslim-Malay resident social cultures are a basis of Malay lifestyle and should be taken into account during the design of a settlement as a whole living environment setting.